Search - 25 Years of Improv Comedy: Live From the Chicago Theatre on DVD

For 25 years, Chicago's i.O. Theater has been a training ground for the world's top improv comedians, including many cast members and writers of Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, MADtv and... more &raquo Upright Citizens Brigade. This hotbed of creativity stoked the imaginations and launched the careers of such well-known performers as Mike Myers, Ike Barinholtz, Mo Collins, Andy Dick, Rachel Dratch, Dave Koechner, Tim Meadows, Joel Murray, Amy Poehler, Andy Richter and Horatio Sanz. Now, for one amazing night, these illustrious alumni from the past 25 years perform in a gala show of improvised comedy as well as tributes to Chris Farley and innovative improv teacher Del Close. The excitement is tangible as this uniquely talented group of performers go back to their roots in this one-of-a-kind reunion; with no scripts and no rehearsals, it's a night where anything can happen!&laquo less

Movie Reviews

Don't Bother

S. Priest | 03/29/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD didn't even have a chance to be good. It was recorded at a large theater with a massive audience instead of at the two stages at iO. Instead of mic-ing the stage... they've decided to litter the stage with stand up microphones and mic stands. That leads to scenes where acting/stagework isn't even attempted, or it leads to scenes where people run around in the background until they have a funny thing to say, which they do by walking up towards the front of the stage and saying it into the mic like some weird spelling bee. It's not very condusive for the stage or improv. And its perplexing seeing as this is a night that is supposed to be celebrating and demonstrating improv from people who are masters at the craft.

It's a trainwreck of an evening with maybe a handful of amusing moments. If you want to see improv on DVD, this isn't it, I think the only thing available is ASSSSCAT. If you're a huge fan of improv and are absolutely too curious to stay away, please do yourself a favor and netflix it... and even then you'll be disappointed with how the evening went and how there are zero special features, no bonus performances set in the actual io theater, no small documentary about iO, how it was formed or anything. There's some fluff interviews with the stars interspersed throughout the evenings footage, but its more of a wedding video like montage with no real information, just people saying 'congrats' into the camera.

Seriously, don't be tricked into thinking this is even close to what it should be."

Bottom line- NOT funny

A. Cronkright | Michigan, USA | 12/22/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I was looking for good comedy and thought " Mike Myers, Andy Richter, Andy Dick" don't think I can go wrong with this one. Well, I did. It was very boring. Maybe 5 minutes of funny and two chuckles in the whole thing. Having watched plenty of "Who's line" with it's semi-improv stuff and always laughing, I guess I was expecting too much. Don't waste your time or money on this one if what you want is real entertainment."

If you have to choose...

Charles Lawry-Martinez | Ventura, CA | 05/23/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD wasnt as enjoyable as I thought it would be, throwing a lot of people together who dont normally work together was bad. If you have to choose between this DVD and ASSSSCAT! then go with asssscat. I think the shining stars of this DVD were the UCB guys and with asssscat you get all of them all the time. Ill admit that Im biased because Im with UCB but we have a lot of respect for IO and they are the only school we let cross over into UCB for classes. Like I said if you are going to choose go with asssscat, the commentary is also great for small little tips in asssscat. This wasnt terrible but it was a let down."